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  Date / Time: 6/9/2009 7:17 PM UTC

  North Korea threatens 'merciless' nuclear offensive
  

  North Korea threatens 'merciless' nuclear offensive

  • Nuclear arms a 'means to deal a just retaliatory strike'
  • Kim Jong-il son backs reports of brother's succession

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  • Associated Press
  • guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 9 June 2009 09.06 BST

  

  Kim Jong-nam, claimed to be the eldest son of the North Korean ruler, Kim Jong-il, in 2007. Photograph: AP

  North Korea today warned it would use nuclear weapons in a "merciless offensive" if provoked, two weeks after testing a Hiroshima-size device.

  It appeared to be the first time the communist state had referred to its nuclear arsenal as "offensive" in nature. Pyongyang has long claimed that its nuclear weapons programme is for self-defence against perceived US threats.

  "Our nuclear deterrent will be a strong defensive means ... as well as a merciless offensive means to deal a just retaliatory strike to those who touch the country's dignity and sovereignty even a bit," the state-run Minju Joson newspaper said in a commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

  Separately, a man reported to be the eldest son of the North Korean ruler, Kim Jong-il, added weight to reports that his youngest brother would succeed his father.

  "Well, I hear the news by media. I think [it's] true," Kim Jong-nam said in an interview with the Japanese broadcaster TV Asahi. "My father loves very much my brother as his son. I hope he can do his best for North Korean people for their happiness and better life."

  The 67-year-old leader has three known sons by two different mothers. Speculation on who will succeed him has grown since he reportedly suffered a stroke last summer. Last week, a South Korean politican and media outlets said the North had told its diplomatic missions that 26-year-old Kim Jong-un would be its next leader.

  Kim Jong-nam had been considered the favorite to succeed his father, but reportedly fell out of favour due to his wayward lifestyle. In 2001, he was caught trying to enter Japan on a fake passport and reportedly told officials he wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland. His mother was the late actress Sung Hae-rim.

  Little is known about Kim Jong-un, who was born to Kim Jong-il's late wife, Ko Yong-hi. The couple had another son, Kim Jong-chol, now 28, who his father reportedly does not favour as a possible leader.

  Kim Jong-un studied at the International School of Berne, in Switzerland, until 1998 under the pseudonym Pak Chol, learning to speak English, German and French, the Swiss weekly news magazine L'Hebdo reported this year, citing classmates and school officials.

  A Japanese man, Kenji Fujimoto, who claims to know Kim Jong-un from when he worked as Kim Jong-il's sushi chef, has said the son looks and acts like his father, who often derided Kim Jong-chol as "girlish".

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